Page 257 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Chlin Wares and Some Others i^o,-i

in a tenth-century work,^ and the potteries were still flourishing

at the commencement of the Yiian dynasty,- A characteristic

specimen figiu-ed in Plate 42 is a tea bowl with soft, dark bro^vn
earthenware body and thick, lustrous, purplish black glaze, mottled
and streaked with golden brown. The brown forms a solid band

at the mouth and tails off into streaks and drops on the sides, finally
disappearing in a thick mass of black. The spots and streaks of

broAvn suggested to Chinese writers the markings on a partridge's

breast or on hare's fur, and the bowls are usually known as " hare's
fur cups " ^ or " partridge cups." The dark colour of the glaze
made them specially suitable for the tea-testing competitions which
were in fashion in the Sung period, the object of the contest being
to see whose tea would stand the largest number of waterings, and
it was found that the least trace of the tea was visible against
the black glaze of the Chien bowls. The testimony of an eleventh-
century writer* on this point is of interest. "The tea," he says,
" is light in colour and suits the black cups. Those made at

€hien-an are purplish black {kan hei) with markings like hare's
fur. Their material, being somewhat thick, takes long to heat,

and when hot does not quickly cool, which makes them specially

serviceable. No cups from any other place can equal them.

Green (ch'ing) and white cups are not used in the tea-testing

parties."

The Chinese tea contests were adopted by the Japanese, who
elaborated them into the curious ceremony known as Cha no yu,
which later assumed a semi-political aspect. The Japanese Cha

jin (initiates of the tea ceremony) have always prized the Chien

yao bowls, to which they gave the name iemmokii, and Brinkley

speaks of a great variet}^ of Chien yao glazes which he saw in Japan.
Of some he saj^^s that " on a ground of mirror black are seen shift-
ing tints of purple and blue ; reflections of deep green, like the glossy

1 Tlie Ch'ing yi lu, quoted in the Tao shuo, bk. v., fol. 16 verso : " In Min (i.e.
Fukien) are made tea boNvls with ornamental markings like the mottling and spots

on a partridge (c/ie ku pan). The tea-testing parties prize them." Oddly enough,
the only specimen of this type of ware which I have seen with a date-mark was dated
in the reign of Hsien Te (954-960) of the Posterior Chou dynasty; but the inscription
had been cut subsequently to the firing of the Avare, and carries little weight. The
piece in question is a remarkably large bottle-sliaped vase with a splendid purplish
black glaze with " hare's fur " marking, in the Eumorfopoulos Collection.

" See T'ao lu, bk. vii., fol. 8 verso.

%$iS^ ^'" ^fl'' chan.

* Ts'ai-hsiang, quoted in the T'ao shuo, bk. v., fol. 16 verso.